Congress celebrates public hearing on the handling of disaster loans in Puerto Rico

Washington, DC- Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, House Small Business Committee member, questioned disaster management officers of the Small Business Administration (SBA) at today's hearing regarding the delay in the disbursement process of disaster loans to small entrepreneurs on the Island.

The Small Business Committee of the federal House of Representatives chaired by Steve Chabot held a public hearing today to monitor the response by SBA to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Among the federal agencies that take an active role in disaster response and recovery, SBA has a leading role in direct assistance to small entrepreneurs, including the availability of home repair loans of up to $200,000 and for repairs to businesses up to $2,000,000.

In Puerto Rico, the SBA disaster division received 102,619 loan applications after Hurricane Maria. Of these, 52,045 have been approved, for a total of $1,835,548,900 in low interest loans. As part of the FEMA emergency relief process, hurricane survivors had to complete the SBA loan application. When the application was denied, the applicant automatically accessed the aid through FEMA.

This is divided into 49,433 loans for housing, 2,188 for businesses, 424 for economic damages totaling 52,045 approved loans. They are reflected in allocations of funds of $1,630,533,800 for housing, $182,950,900 for businesses, $22,064,200 for economic damages that translate into $1,835,548,900 in approved dollars.

With Hurricane Irma, this is broken down into 28 housing loans, 2 for businesses, and 7 for economic damages totaling 37 approved loans. They are reflected in allocations of funds of $1,142,300 for housing, $238,800 for businesses, $ 272,000 for economic damages that translate into $ 1,653,100 in approved dollars.

"As the only representative of Puerto Rico in Congress, I thank the Small Business Administration for its commitment to improve conditions in Puerto Rico. I want to thank the committee for holding this hearing on disaster loans and approving the money for entrepreneurs. In some cases, the process of disbursement of these has taken from one to six months. That is the concern I receive from entrepreneurs. We have to accelerate the disbursement of the resources approved by Congress," expressed the resident commissioner of the public hearing in which the president of the Committee recognized González's work during the hurricane.

González-Colón emphasized the importance that the Small Business Administration review the programmatic goals deployed by the SBA, so that the Puerto Rico Small Business & Technology Development Center has achievable objectives to maintain the continuity of the services they provide